Zuko's Dragon
by NiveusTigris
Summary: When the Sun Warriors send Zuko one of the 100 last dragon eggs, what will his and Azula's reaction be? How will they impact the world? My first fic.
1. The Egg

Avatar is not mine. The idea for this story and the actual story is mine.

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Zuko and His Dragon

It was the week after Aang and Zuko had returned from the Sun Warrior's city. Aang and Zuko had started Firebending lessons, which were now progressing smoothly since Zuko now had his Firebending back. Aang, being the Avatar, had a very easy time learning Firebending, and he and Zuko were having practice Agni Kais every day, and even though Zuko had dominated the first few, Aang was getting better every day.

One day the gang was having dinner when Toph sensed something in the earth.

"Someone's climbing down the side of the Temple!" she whispered.

Katara looked at Zuko angrily. "Did you do this?" she yelled.

Zuko looked at her in wonder. "I risked my life for your group and for Aang. Don't you think it's past the point where I bring Fire Nation soldiers here?"

"Nobody can trust you! Forget—"

"Not the time. Everyone hide," instructed Aang.

Aang and Toph pulled a large earth barrier up. Aang made a peephole to see who it was.

A funnily dressed man walked into the room.

"Hello? I'm looking for the Avatar and Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation," said the man.

Aang, of course, recognized the man as soon as he saw him.

"Zuko, it's the Sun Chief!" said Aang, pulling down the earth barrier.

"Hello," Aang and Zuko both said, bowing.

The Sun Chief bowed back. "I came to check on the progress of the Avatar. After a week after the meeting with Ran and Cha sufficient mastery should have been achieved."

"Should we demonstrate 'The Dragon Dance' to you?" asked Aang. The Sun Warrior nodded.

After Zuko and Aang did the dance, the Sun Warrior looked pleased.

"Good. You have mastered the form," he said, taking out the Sunstone that they had been accused of attempting to steal at the city. He handed it to Zuko.

"Why are you giving me this?" asked Zuko.

"Something very strange happened. For the first time in centuries, Ran and Cha came out of their caves to talk to me. They said they had been thinking about it, and they said that it would be best if I gave it to you. I should be going now."

Night at the Western Air Temple.

The gang was preparing to go to sleep, Aang and Zuko debated on why Ran and Cha had decided to give Zuko the Sunstone.

"Maybe they just like you?" mused Aang.

"As much as I would like to think that the last two dragons on earth and the two greatest Firebenders on earth have taken a liking to me, I almost know that it has a deeper meaning."

"Probably," Aang said, taking the stone from Zuko.

When Aang's skin touched the stone, the grooves on it started glowing like Aang's tatoos and eyes did when he entered the Avatar State. Indeed, he looked like he had entered it.

Suddenly Aang stopped glowing, but the grooves on the egg did not.

Suddenly a whirlwind of fire appeared and when it dissipated, Avatar Roku, in physical manifestation, appeared before them.

"Hello, Aang, and Zuko," said Roku.

"Hi Roku," said Aang.

"It's an honor to meet my great grandfather," said Zuko.

"Likewise, Zuko," said Roku.

"I came to you knowing that you were with Aang, and when he touched the egg, I could use the spirit energy in the egg to talk to you.

"I was the one who appeared to Ran and Cha and convinced them to trust you with this egg. When the time comes, which is in about a day, a dragon will hatch from this egg "

Zuko's eyes widened. "So this is the last dragon egg?"

"Actually, no. This is simply one of the last 100 dragon eggs in existence. They will all hatch simultaneously tomorrow, effectively proving that dragons are very much still in existence. Because dragons take more than one mate, the fifty males and fifty females will, er, have their hands full rebuilding their race. With this crucial piece of information, I take my leave of you."

With another whirlwind of fire, Roku was gone, leaving Aang and even Zuko pretty excited.

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I hope you liked it. Please review. 


	2. The Dragon's Hatching

Avatar is not mine.

Enjoy!

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The Dragon's Hatching

The next day arrived. Zuko woke before anyone else thanks to the rising sun's energy. He grabbed his Dao swords and took the egg to the top of the cliff which the Western Air Temple was situated on.

He practiced some of his Firebending utilizing his swords as conduit. It was still dawn by the time he finished his best techniques.

_I've got to do better than this,_ he thought. _If Azula comes calling, I—and the rest of the gang—will have been run through with lightning before we turn around._

Thinking of lightning, he remembered his feeble attempts at producing lightning back when he and Iroh were fugitives in the Earth Kingdom. He remembered why he had not been able to produce it.

_I was in emotional turmoil. I wanted to be back home but there were so many complications during that time. That was my block._

Zuko assumed the lightning stance he had taken what seemed years ago.

_Positive and negative energy separated—complete emotional peace…_

He knew, of course, that lightning had a very large ease when channeled through metal... he picked up his Dao swords and put them back together so that they seemed as if they were one sword. Then he moved the swords in the motion.

He could feel the sparks coming down his arm and into the sword…

And when he touched the swords together and stepped forward, for a couple of seconds, they glowed white hot.

Then a gigantic white column of energy erupted from the sword tips. It was so strong it caused Zuko to slam into a tree behind him.

When it was over, there was a large…. Thing in the ground. It was as if a large boulder had been dragged from the edge of the cliff in a straight line and had flown away where Zuko had previously stood.

_I'd hate to be in the way of that._

He tried it again without swords. It worked normally.

He went back down to the temple. Everyone was up and getting ready for breakfast.

"There you are!" said Aang. "We've been looking all over."

"Why?"

"Well, everyone wants to see the dragon's egg."

"Oh."

They passed the egg around. When it got to Toph, she let out a little gasp.

"There's something living in there!"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Duh, we know that. It's a dragon egg."

She shook her head.

"No, what I meant was, it's trying to get out."

Aang piped up. "Yeah. Roku told us that it would hatch today."

"Not exactly when, though," Zuko said, "It would have to be while the sun is up or it wouldn't make sense. So I think our best bet would be noon, when the sun is at it's peak, along with my Firebending."

"What does the sun have to do with Firebending?" Katara asked in an I-don't-think-you-know-what-you're-talking-about tone.

"As I hope you know, we Firebenders draw power from the sun. At noon it has the most influence in the sky. This is why a Firebender is unstoppable around noon on the Summer Solstice. If the Full Moon ever lands on the same night as the Winter Solstice, the same effect will be present for Waterbending."

"Oh," Katara said, disappointed that he had known what he was saying.

Aang and Zuko practiced Firebending until noon came. Aang had achieved sufficient mastery of the last bending art.

Zuko was teaching Aang how to create lightning.

"I only mastered the technique this morning, so my methods may not work so well for you."

"I just want to learn it so I can tell when Azula tries to shoot me again," Aang said.

Zuko nodded.

"Alright. Lightning is a pure expression of Firebending. Even though other Firebending is aggression and is fueled by emotion, or in many cases, rage, it requires a complete peace of mind. Some call Lightning 'the Cold-Blooded Fire.' It is precise and deadly, like Azula or my father."

"Being the Avatar, you may know that energy is all around us," Zuko said, and Aang nodded.

"It is yin and yang—positive and negative energy. Only a select few Firebenders can separate the two types of energy. When they do, it creates an imbalance. The energy in Lightning serves the same role as emotion in normal Firebending. When the imbalance is created, the energy wants to restore balance, so positive and negative energies come crashing toward each other. In the instant when they are one, right before the balance is restored, the Lightning is created. When using Lightning, you must adopt a different mindset than in other types of bending. Instead of manipulating the element, you are its humble guide and nothing more.

Zuko demonstrated a lightning strike for him.

Aang nodded. "I'm ready to try it."

He assumed the stance and went through the motion. Zuko saw that Aang was generating no lightning but did nothing. He needed the lesson.

When Aang thought that the lightning would come out, instead, a small explosion blew up in his face and he fell backwards.

"I was afraid of that. When you channel lightning, you cannot be thinking about anything that causes you emotion. You can't think about how you might hurt someone, how my sister shot you with what you're about to control, you can't be thinking about how much you love Katara—"

"Hold on," said Aang, "I never said—"

"Please," said Zuko. "I've seen the way you look at her, once I even heard you say her name in your sleep in a dreamy way."

"Oh," said Aang, attempting to hide his red face, "I didn't know I was that obvious."

"You couldn't be more obvious. And on that happy note, I end training for the day."

"Thank you Sifu Hotman," said Aang, bowing.

"Don't call me that!" yelled Zuko.

Later, at lunch, Zuko was holding the egg when he started to feel it rumbling.

"It's time," he said.

It was still a couple of minutes until noon by the time everyone got up to the cliff edge.

_What should I do now?_ Zuko thought. Suddenly he got an image of himself heating the egg.

He didn't know what compelled him to do it, but he set the egg on the ground and started a steady stream of fire at the egg.

30 seconds… nothing…

1 minute… nothing…

2 minutes… the egg started to glow brightly.

About a second later a spiraling row of white energy in the shape of a dragon went up into the sky. The Energy Dragon roared and all who looked into its eyes saw a gigantic golden dragon that bore a resemblance to Ran and Cha.

Suddenly the Energy Dragon disappeared in a shower of sparks and the egg cracked cleanly in half, opened, and out stepped a small little golden dragon the size of a cat stepped out. It sniffed the air and a puff of smoke came out.

Zuko slowly approached it and offered it a piece of meat ("Don't waste it!" Sokka cried.)

It snapped it up and licked the hand. Zuko picked it up and held it up to his face and the dragon licked him again. Zuko laughed and said, "Great!"


End file.
